Developing Brand New Apartments - seeking advice and investors

[Gloria Riley]

Hi BiggerPockets,

I am currently a Florida REALTOR (which I absolutely love), however my long-term goal is to own and develop multifamily properties in Florida and Georgia (perhaps other states in the future). In addition to being a REALTOR, my husband is a supplier in the multifamily industry. We have abundant knowledge and experience in how the apartment industry works, property management, budgets, etc. However we don't know everything.

My question is, if I wanted to develop an apartment building of at least 150+ units:

- Where do I start? Who do I contact?

- How to develop a business plan and business model for developing a new community (is there a good template out there?)

- Where to find potential investors that would want to partner

- How much can I estimate for a project? I know I'll need Contractors and Vendors to get this done.

I don't know exactly where to start. If anyone has had a successful development project that is completed, I would love to know the details of your step-by-step process (i.e. from acquiring the land to hiring the architects, etc.) Thank you!

[Mark Graffagnino]

Hi Gloria,

I've been in the apartment development business in Atlanta for over 20 years.  There's definitely not enough space, or time, to get into all the facets here, but in general, ground up development is a very expensive and time consuming process.  Once you are able to find a site that is already zoned for multi-family- because rezoning to multi-family is very difficult- and tie up the site with an earnest money deposit, you've then got to engage professionals for: surveying, land planning, civil engineering, geotechnical, environmental, architectural, MEP design services.  You also have engage attorneys for doing your due diligence on entitlements and working towards your closing.   And someone has to be putting your hard cost and soft cost budgets together to make sure the deal actually works financially, concurrently with getting your land disturbance and building permits approved.

I'd say on the average new apartment deal I've been involved with the developer has invested about $800K over a 9-12 month timeframe from signing the contract to buy the property to closing on the loan.

I'm not familiar with the Orlando market, but metro Atlanta is going crazy with apartments right now.  Everything is urban infill because all the feasible suburban garden style sites have been developed already.

Best of luck and feel free to reach out with any questions.

Mark